Faster certification for Vietnamese seafood exports

Vietnam's seafood exporters can expect a response to their product certification applications within two days.

The move is an effort by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to accelerate the process for seafood exporters to have their products accepted in the EU market.

Beginning on January 1, 2010, businesses exporting fishery products to the EU will be required to show certification proving the origin of their products under the EU's new "Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing" (IUU) regulation.

Under the new regulation, local port authorities will be in charge of certifying unloaded fisheries' products at their port regardless of the origin of the vessel. Previously they could only certify local vessels.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), only about 60-70% of business exporting seafood to the EU currently has catch origin certification. The majority of fishing vessels are small, which makes it difficult for authorities to manage and keep track of them.

Vietnam currently has about 130,000 fishing vessels, only 15,500 of which have more than 90hp of power. The rest are small boats working beyond the control of local authorities.

Fishery products have the highest export turnover in Vietnam, reaching US$3.94 billion in the first 11 months of this year, a decrease of 6.28% compared to the same period last year.